A while ago, DeafDigest posted a picture of the Frinks,possibly the world’s largest all-deaf family. What aboutthe world’s second largest all-deaf family? Maybe, in India,the Nair family has 17 deaf members (mother, father plus15 deaf children). The Frinks family picture is at:

DeafDigest does not have the picture of 17 deaf Nairfamily members of India.

— A cable TV company will not help a deaf family

A deaf family was disappointed about not gettingcaptions on the the TV programs. The cable TVcompany would not help the deaf family. Why?Because the deaf family was pirating the cable TV.And when there were problems with the captions,the deaf family was stuck!

— deafness surgery allowed in Italy, illegal in USA

a young deaf child was born without cochlea (a specialbone) that allows people to hear. An implanted device wouldbe needed to replace the missing cochlea. The Federal Foodand Drug Administration rules are strange. Adults are allowedto have that operation, but children are not allowed! Italyallows this operation in children. As a result, this deafchild is having this operation in Italy! (this is not a CI, just adifferent kind of operation).

A deaf woman is a waitress at an expensive restaurant; shewears two hearing aids to communicate with her patrons. Recentlya hearing diner ordered something; the waitress wrote it downand then left the table. The diner yelled at her to come back ashe changed mind about the order. The deaf waitress did not hearhim. The diner went to the manager to complain about the “rude”waitress. The manager explained that she is deaf. The diner wasso embarrassed about the whole thing that he walked out ofthe restaurant!

— Two club members surprised to be a brother and a sister

Soccer player Barrie Prowse, not deaf, was adopted. He looked for his
biological family, and was surprised to find that a deaf woman soccer
player with the same Penzance AFC club (England) was his sister!
The men’s and the women’s teams shared the same practice field and
both teams would enjoy beers and socializing at the clubhouse pub.
No one realized that Barrie and Gemma were really brother and sister.
Every one was thrilled about it. Deaf Gemma also plays for the
British Deaf Women’s Deaflympics soccer team.

— World’s richest man refuses to fund deaf relay services

Carlos Slim, from Mexico, is the world’s richest man. He ownsthe TracFone Wireless, which sells pre-paid mobile phones.He is fighting the state of California, refusing to paythe state universal services fee. This fund, in part,helps fund the state telecommunications and relay servicesfor the deaf.

— Another Deaf Fake character in The Joe Schmo Show

A while ago DeafDigest mentioned a fake deaf bounty hunterin the The Joe Schmo Show. Here is another fake deaf –A Deaf Ventrilogquist, playing with her “talking dummy” –which talks so wild that the interpreter cannot catch up with!A crazy program? Yes, but hearing people love to laugh,thinking deaf can be funny!

— A city with outdoor emergency flashing sirens

Garland is a city in Texas, with population of nearly230,000 people. It was praised as one of the best citiesin USA to live in. One of the reasons is an outdooremergency flashing sirens – that will alert everybody –both deaf and hearing, of emergencies. How many deafpeople live in Garland? Do not know, but they canwalk around the city, knowing they will be alerted incase of emergencies!

DeafDigest mentioned a past case of deaf woman, arrested ondrunk driving, trying to get her case dismissed due to nointerpreter. The judge ruled against the deaf woman, sayingthat communications by written notes was enough. The woman’sattorney plans to appeal the judge’s ruling. This courthearing took four hours, which is very long!

— Discrimination against deaf doctors

There is much discrimination against deaf patients indoctors’ offices. What about deaf doctors? Yes, muchdiscrimination! Says who? Says Philip Zazove, a deafphysician. The University of California Davis HealthSystem printed a special report about this issue. Whilethe report did not say how many deaf doctors do we have,the estimate is between 75-100. And many of them saidthey deal with discrimination while working with hearingpeople in the medical profession.

— The deaf and the Red Bull

Red Bull is a famous energy drink company. Many of us knowabout a famous deaf racer Ashley Fiolek. She is sponsored bythe Red Bull. But how many of us know that Red Bull issponsoring a team coached by a deaf man! Mick Fanning,not deaf, is a two time world surfing champion and hissurf team is sponsored by the Red Bull. Fanning’s coachis Andy King, an Australian, who is deaf.

— DEAF in India

In USA, many deaf people identify themselves as Capital DDeaf. What about India? There is DEAF. Really deaf? No,it is Depositor Education & Awareness Fund, whichexplains how to make bank deposits. But many hearingpeople laugh at DEAF. They say DEAF is deaf to thereal banking needs!

Jeopardy had a deaf question, and the answer was “Whatare Girl Scout cookies?” It was about Savannah, GA notpermitting Girl Scout cookies to be sold on the citystreets in 2011. After so many complaints, the city councilchanged its mind and allowed cookie sales. How is itdeaf-related? Juliette Gordon Low, a deaf woman, foundedthe Girl Scouts in 1912.

— These Super Bowl ads

We, the deaf, complain every year that not every Super Bowlad is captioned. Yet there was a big newspaper story aboutsome Super Bowl advertisers that go broke and go out ofbusiness. Maybe this is the reason why some of them don’tcaption their ads. After paying millions of dollars onan ad, there is no more money for captions! Hard tobelieve? Yes!

— Dangerous for deaf to deliver mail?

Is it dangerous for a deaf person to deliver mail?It should not be – but Graham Duff, a deaf mailmanin Fife, a small town in Scotland, was bitten by adog. He could not hear the dog barking and was bit.The police has given the owner a ticket for allowingdog to run loose. Duff, still upset, has not deliveredmail since then. We have heard many stories of dogschasing mailmen. But this one about the deaf is thefirst DeafDigest has known about.

— A deaf person not allowed to race horses?

A deaf man from Ontario, Canada wants to become ahorse racing jockey. He enrolled at a horse racingschool to learn to become a jockey. The school saiddeafness was not a problem, but later changed itsmind. The case is now with the Ontario humanrights commission. Rick Macomber, a deaf man,races horses in Indiana but it is trotters,not thoroughbreds, two different types of races.

— Forbes Magazine honors a person that works with the deaf

Forbes Magazine is a popular magazine for importantpeople in business and politics. Every year thismagazine announces top honors for business people andpoliticians. In the past people that are deaf orwork with deaf have never been honored until this year.Ohki Junto san, not deaf, is the president of ShuR Groupin Japan. This agency helps the deaf with their needs.Forbes has honored him as one of the Top 30 people inthe world under age of 30.